Golanicjan States

 

Sometime around 3100 BCB, the ancient city states of Golbst (modern day Kovstepovi) and Lanija (modern day Dumi) were united under the Golbst-Lanija alliance, forming what is beleived to be the first nation state in Golanicja. Several hundred years later the city state of Miganja (modern day Miga) took control over the Hook and the Hidden Sea regions of west central Golanicja, forming a rival nation state.

The Iron Wars (2150 to 2075 BCB) would put pressure on the developing nation states of early Golanicja and draw them into the War of the Iron Triangle in 2065 BCB. With the powerful Golbst-Lanija Empire engaged against orcs and goblins in the Iron Ridge Mountains, forces from the Miganjan Empire and the emerging Slomnji nation in the northwest invaded Golbst-Lanija, plunging all of central Golanicja into war. The war would never be resolved, as the conjunction of 2050 BCB and the Upheaval and Ash Winter that followed caused the sudden collapse of all of the involved nation states.

With national governments dismantled and cities effectively abandoned, central governments would not return to Golanicja for over three centuries with the end of the Ash Winter. City states would begin to reform in Golanicja sometime around 1400 BCB, but none of these would merge into nation states until much later. With the emergence of Golga Olmogorog as the victor of the War of the Nine Chieftains in the Iron Ridge Mountains, the orcish invasions would begin in central Golanicja. Within less than 10 years, most of central Golanicja is under the control of the self-styled Empress Golga Olmogorog, who has little interest in governing.

Following orcish invasions of other continents, and the assassination of Golga, the orcish forces lose their coherence. In 378 a resistance movement of dwarven slaves led by Torbjorn Kostevic begins to liberate Golanicja from the inside out. In 383 Torbjorn would retake Kovstepovi, and be declared King Torbjorn I. All of Golanicja was declared to be the domain of Torbjorn's Dwarven Kingdom. Torbjorn would go on to liberate all of Golanicja (except for the Odovician region, south of the Southwall Ridge, which the orcs never bothered to invade). Golanicjan forces would continue the fight around the world assisting in the liberation of Marcosta, Ayodesh, Jumira, Tulosz and Senecia. Torbjorn I would not live to see the end of the orcish wars, but his son Torbjorn II would, and would also see his father's Dwarven Kingdom of Golanicja officially recognized by all the other major nation states around the world in 471. The Kingdom of Golanicja included all the contiguous lands of continental Golanicja with disputed territories in Odovovic. It also included the provinces of Marcosta and of Golanicjan Jumira, which had been liberated by Torbjorn's forces and declared part of the Kingdom.

With the Imperial Era, and various wars in Ayodesh, the Kingdom of Golanicja would drop its claim on the Plains of Odovic Region in 708 in favour of peace and stable trade relations on the southern border. An invasion of the Shaded Coast Region from the Queendom of Obersch in 709 would lead to the permanent loss of that territory. Then, in 1200, the Kingdom of Golanicja would collapse due to insolvency. The Kingdom would fragment into several smaller nation states, and large portions of it would be sold by creditors with individual city states reforming and chartering to take control of the ceded lands.

By the end of the Imperial Era in 1259, Golanicja, which had formerly been united under the Dwarven Kingdom of Golanicja as the largest nation state on Tear, was now fragmented into six nation states, two large independent regions of autonomous city states, and one region belong to the Queendom of Obersch. While the province of Golanicjan Jumira was still a protectorate of one of the six Golanicjan nation states, the Marcostan province has also gained its independance.

Domain of Golanicja

The Domain of Golanicja is arguably the rump state of the former Kingdom of Golanicja, though many say that the true rump state is the Principality of Miga. The Domain of Golanicja includes most of the area surrounding the Sea of Azane, as well as the Stone Isles and takes Kovstepovi - the former capital of the Golanicjan Kingdom - as its own captial. It also claims as part of its political territory the province of Golanicjan Jumira. With the bankruptcy and dissolution of the Kingdom og Golanicja, the Golanicja Royal Family went into hiding, and many nobles far down the line of Golanicjan succession stepped forward to make claims to the crown. Several of these were put to death for complicity in the mismangement of the Kingdom, but others were powerful and connected enough to the creitors of the failed Kingdom that they were able to strike deals.

After several years of negotiations between factions, creditors, noble houses, emerging city states and other regions of Golanicja, the Coal Harbour Accord was signed in 1205. Among other things, the Coal Harbour Accord reformed the Domain of Golanicja as a Constitutional Monarchy in which the monarch would have only ceremonial power. The Domain of Golanicja would be governed by a council of delegates sent from the cities within the Domain, with larger cities having more delegates. Golanicjan Jumira was retained as a Protectorate, and a Governor was appointed.

Duchy of Brinjevi

The Duchy of Brinjevi is in the Red Plains region of western Golanicja, on the Marcostic Sea. It takes te city of Brinjevi for its capital. It was formed in 1202 by agreement between former Golanicjan nobles and Great Houses and many creditors to the failed Golanicjan Crown. The Duchy is a constitutional monarchy supported by a senate whose members are delegated from the councils of the cities throught the region. The senate conducts most of the business of governance, but the monarch retains significant executive and veto power, though the monarch cannot dissolve the senate. The crown, and the corresponding title of Duke or Duchess is not necessarily hereditary, and the monarch has the authority to name their successor, but this successor must be approved by the Senate.

Duchy of Saltspire

The Duchy of Saltspire is located in the eastern half of the Red Brine Sea region of northern Golanicja, and has the city of Saltspire for its capital. Of the new states that were formed following the collapse of the Kingdom of Golanicja, the Duchy of Saltspire was the first to be recognized along with the Principality of Miga, in 1200. While the original Dukes and Duchesses of the other Duchies of Golanicja were members of Golanicjan royalty, the first Duchess of Saltspire was High Commissioner Draga Krzan - the head of the Salt House. As the Salt House were major creditors to the Crown, High Commissioner Krzan was able to leverge the debts owed to the Salt House as well as fears of military expansion of the Queendom of Obersch to seize political power and form a limited monarchy with herself at the head.

The Duchy of Saltspire is ruled by a governing council formed from delgates from cities and major factions invested in the region. The monarch is always the head of the Salt House, and succession is determined by the internal process of that company, thus High Commissioner of the Salt House and the Duke or Duchess of Saltspire are always the same person.

Duchy of Smoljeno

The Duchy of Smoljeno is located in the western half of the Red Brine Sea region and the eastern half of the Westerlands of northern Golanicja, and takes the city of Smoljeno for its capital. When King Gaelan formed the Western Metal and Gem Company in 711 in order to exploit the resources of eastern Ayodesh, the company was put under the control of his cousins in Smoljeno and the Westerlands. These families and thier lineages would control the company for almost 500 years, throughout the entire Imperial Era. But by 1200, when the Crown's debts were coming due, the leadership of the Western Metal and Gem Company - still Dukes and Duchesses by hereditary title - felt little connection to Queen Kosuela II and her branch of the family. It was their rejection of the Crown's authority that ultimately led to the collapse of the Kingdom in 1200.

The Duchy of Smoljeno was formed by the Coal Harbour Accord in 1205. The Accord formed the Duchy as a Constitutional Monarchy in which the ruling Duke or Duchess would have mostly ceremonial powers. The Duchy is governed by a council of delegates sent from the cities within the Domain, with larger cities having more delegates.

Duchy of the Westerlands

The Duchy of Westerlands is located in the western half of the Westerlands region at the northwestern tip of Golanicja, and takes the city of Westmoor for its capital. As with the neighbouring Duchy of Smoljeno, the Dukes and Duchesses who controlled this region during the Imperial Era also controlled the Western Metal and Gem Company, and their rejection of the authority of the Golanicjan Crown in 1200 is what caused the collapse and fragmentation of the Kingdom.

The Coal Harbour Accord in 1205, which formed the Domain of Golanicja and the Duchy of Smoljeno also formed the Duchy of the Westerlands. The Duchy is a Constitutional Monarchy in which the ruling Duke or Duchess has mostly ceremonial powers. The Duchy is governed by a council of delegates sent from the cities within the Domain, with larger cities having more delegates.

Free Golanicja

Following the dissolution of the Golanicjan Crown in 1200, most of Golanicja became autonomous, with cities in most regions of the continent chartering themselves to become free city states. Most of central Golanicja, including most of the Iron Ridge Mountains and the Shining Mountains are excluded from the rule of the several nation states that formed out of the remnants of the Kingdom.

Free Odovic

The geographic region of the Plains of Odovic, or Odovic for short (not to be confused with the city state of the same name), lies beneath the Southwall Ridge in southern Golanicja and is sometimes referred to as Unconquered Odovic. This autonomous region of city states was never invaded during the orcish conquests. Orcish armies were thwarted by the natural defensive wall of the Southwall Ridge and held back at Bastion and Odovic. During the Imperial Era, while King Torbjorn I originally declared the region to be part of the Dwarven Kingdom of Golanicja in 383, the city states here never acceded. King Torbjorn and his successors were too busy fighting real enemies to ever press the matter, and in 708, they were forced to simply give up and recognize Odovician autonomy.

Principality of Miga

Along with the Duchy of Saltspire, the Principality of Miga was the first new nation to be recognized following the dismantling of the Golanicjan Crown in 1200. The Passage of Miga was far too important for any of the invested parties to allow the region to collapse into prolonged civil war, so with the dissolution of the Kingdom of Golanicja, powerful factions, Great Houses and even foreign city states immediately jumped into action. There was a powerful need to form a new state under a legitimate heir that could control the territory surrounding the Passage of Miga.

Depending on which set of laws were referenced, the Prince Dusan was either twelfth or fifteenth in line to the Golanicjan Crown. Within a few weeks of the disappearance of Queen Kosuela II and her immediate family, beheadings of various claimants left Prince Dusan as a rightful heir that most people could support and very few wanted dead - so he was chosen and the Principality of Miga was formed under him.

Despite having chosen a hereditary monarch, and despite forming a Principality, the acts that created the Principality of Miga gives no executive power to the monarch at all. The Principality is governed by a council of delegates from cities in the region, who sit with a senate appointed by the powerful factions that control the Passage of Miga. The monarch is a ceremonial figurehead, and the line of succession is determined not by blood, but by the governing council. Following the death of Prince Dusan in 1284, a series of six very old successors were chosen in a row, with all of them dying within only a few years, in a seeming attempt to distance the modern state from the former Golanicjan Crown. Then in 1326, a canis woman - the Archlegate Paloma Roso of the Servants of Obrum was named Princess of Miga, and the hereditary lineage of dwarven blood was broken forever.

The Principality of Miga consists of the region between the Passage of Miga and the Southwall Ridge, and includes the cities of Miga (the capital) and Povidovija which are the eastern and western gateways into the passage. Technically, the city of Obrum's Landing is not part of the Principality, but is in confederation with it.